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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

I hope you don't mind me sharing this - I have been playing this tune for years but have recently been playing about with it , adding some chords here and there and working out the skeleton of the arrangement.

Thanks, cus. I really liked the way that tune turned out too. I don't know if you noticed but the Bass player obscured the beat when I started my solo (he played off the beat at times). I was forced to react by playing a bit more free.

Back in the old days, that would have caused me to panic. No problem this time. Also I felt a little bit of an actual Herbie influence there. Maybe the syncopation

I don't post recordings, but I still take lessons and have the annual recital coming up, which is one of the few occasions I have to play solo publicly. This year I'm working up Dolphin Dance and Chick Corea's Crystal Silence. Two amazing compositions. I'm sure I'll play Dolphin Dance with my trio, but Crystal Silence is more of a solo, rubato kind of piece, unless I'm lucky enough to find a vibes player someday (it's the title tune from probably the best Chick Corea/Gary Burton duo album).

BTW Knotty that wasn't piano. When I'm doing Funk, etc. I switch to the CP80 Electric Grand. Otherwise I get buried by the Rhythm section. This was the first time I've done that. Looks like it's sounding good for this.

I stick to normal piano for normal jazz tunes though.

jjo, why don't you post recordings? Didn't you used to? I recall hearing you play something before. BTW - as you know I'm thinking about organ and I ALMOST went for an Nord Electro 3 HP. Pulled back a little. I'm playing with organ on my IPAD garage band just so i understand how it works. I can probably MIDI it from my existing board too. Cheaper method for awhile. But allows me to still learn.

jw: I've never posted a recording. I probably put a link to my band's web site, which has recordings. Is there an easy way to record on an Iphone and post it? I don't even use the H2 any more because the IPhone is easier.

I think a simple organ setup should work for your needs. The full deal with drawbars, percussion, leslie sim, etc. is quite the interesting beast!

I managed to cobble a poor man's organ last night. I didn't know why I didn't think of it before. I have an iPad with a USB adapter and then I plugged a MIDI keyboard into it. Then ran Garage band with Organ instrument. It's got the drawbars and everything. Just can't do a swell pedal though.

I could actually gig with this except for the lack of a swell pedal, and I can't charge the iPad while I have the MIDI keyboard connected. At least am I'm able to learn while I save up for an actual organ like an Hammond XK1C.

Very nice jjo! I really how the pulse is so strongly outlined in this. It's one of my weak points when playing this tune. I think I detected an extra beat only in one spot LOL (very easy to do in this tune...)

Love it! Post more often.

Also very difficult to do in a band setting properly. Someone's always making a mistake.

With solo piano, one thing my teacher always harps on is taking out a lot of extra notes. I have a tendency to play something on almost every beat, or more, because it feels like you need that to keep the pulse. She points out that, if you are really feeling the pulse internally, you can cut out extraneous notes that aren't needed musically, and the pulse will be just as strong or stronger. I think I'm getting some of that in the head, but not in my solo yet. I try to actually hear the "ding ding ga ding" on the ride cymbal in my head when playing. I can do that in the head but lose it in the solo.

JW: I understood your comment and I know where that happened (and did when taping it!). That's just blowing the form. When it happens with a bass player, you adjust to where he or she is at, but when playing solo, there is no need to adjust!

When I talked about added notes I was referring to style: playing too many notes because you think it keeps the groove going, when fewer notes, with a strong internal feel, are all that it needed.

As for left handed bass on the organ, I can easily play a head over a bass line that I have worked out, but my solos are still so primitive when I try to improvise over a bass line, even one I've practiced. A bossa nova bass line is easier to solo over; walking bass line the hardest. It's frustrating to play a piece like Autumn Leaves and play a lousy (even by your own standards) solo when you know you can do better, but you can't because part of your brain is focusing on the bass line. However, there are glimmers when I put on a drum track (IRealBook), and the bass line clicks, even just playing the head is a heady feeling when you are playing bass and melody, or bass and comping. It seems to get me deeper into the groove when you have that responsibility.

I've not had the need to do LH bass. I also wasn't that fond of that style for solo piano since I prefer having a dense harmonic sound ala Bill Evans.

But having said that, the thick sound of an organ makes it a bit different. There's no need for thick harmonies with all those organ overtones. So I'm just beginning to delve back into LH bass. I can solo pretty naturally on F or Bb Blues without paying attention to my LH.

Hard to focus on the chord changes though at this point for me if it's something more complex. There's enough hesitation to lose position and groove. So lots and lots of work required. I was in awe watching those Tony Monaco videos you recommended. His LH bass lines sound like a real bass player and not a keyboardist playing bass.

You generally don't need two handed harmonies. That would be too dense. When comping for another instrument, you just use the right hand, using pretty much the traditional rootless left hand voicing we've all learned. Tony Monaco says his left hand is a "separate instrument," and he'd have trouble playing comping chords with his left hand because he's been playing bass for so many years. On the other hand, there are a lot of great players who go back and forth between piano and organ.

Impressive you can solo over a left hand walking a blues bass line. I can't do that at an acceptable level yet.

No Bach inventions so far. I hate reading music so that's the only problem which makes me avoid it. Someday.

My hand/finger independence is fine though. It's just a lack of technique in the LH because I haven't focused on it. Getting better though. I can play Spain head two-handed.

Because I'm so busy with gigs and constantly learning new tunes, I've set aside things that don't apply directly to that just for time reasons, which is why LH Bass and such have become low priority. I just see a disadvantage now in not developing LH bass. I think it really helps to develop a LH groove in solo piano even when just comping. I'm so used to having the LH just fill in on the offbeat that it never contributes to the groove.

you're right. LH bass is really a solo piano or duet thing. In a trio, there's 0 use for it.

You don't have to read the inventions. They are not very difficult to pick up by ear or memorize. The point is that if you want to develop your LH so that it can do things your RH can, then the inventions are very good for this kind of balance. That's useful for solo and combo.